Asset types

An asset type labels a family of files (product packshots, marketing visuals, documents) and carries defaults that the client applies whenever a set of files shares that type: grid or list view, which columns the list shows, whether the type is searched by default, and whether its files can be linked to products.

Fields of an asset type

The /admin/asset-types screen (admin only) lists Name, Description, Related products and Include in search by default. The Create Asset Type / Edit Asset Type dialog exposes:

Label	Column	Rule
Name *	name	1 to 30 characters
Description	description	Up to 255 characters
Related to products	is_related_to_products	Boolean, default false
Search by default	include_in_search_by_default	Boolean, default false
Default Display	default_display	grid or list, default grid
PIM attributes displayed in List view	list_display_items	Ordered array of column ids

The list-view items you can add are size, license, format, dimensions, updated_at, plus every product attribute flagged as viewable (see Products and PIM). Drag to reorder them; the order is the column order.

assetType.list is available to every approved user because the client needs the types to render collections and the search bar; create, update and remove are admin only. Removing a type sets asset_type_id to null on every folder and file that used it.

Assign a type to a folder

Types are assigned from the Assets tree. Open a folder at /admin/assets/:id, choose a value in the Asset Type select (or No asset type) and press Save. asset.update writes asset_type_id to the folder, every descendant folder and every file in them, in one transaction.

The asset updater preserves this on each sync (server/src/services/asset.ts):

• upsertFolder copies the parent’s asset_type_id to a folder that is new or that changed parent. An existing folder that stays in place keeps its own value.
• upsertFile sets asset_type_id to the folder’s value on every upsert, so a file always mirrors its folder.

A type is therefore effectively a property of a subtree, and the way to type a single file is to put it in its own folder.

Effect on search

Two places read the flags:

• Default search state. MainSearchBar.vue builds the initial assetTypes filter from the types where includeInSearchByDefault is true. Users can change the selection, and the client remembers their options in local storage.
• Server filter. collection.search in server/src/trpc/router/collection.ts adds asset_file.asset_type_id IN (...) when the request carries asset type ids. When the request also filters by product views, it adds asset_type.is_related_to_products IS TRUE, so only files of product-related types match a product view filter.

Product views themselves come from the file name matching PRODUCT_MATCHING_REGEX; see Products and PIM.

Effect on display

CollectionRenderFiles.vue decides how to render a list of files:

1. If a forced view is passed, use it.
2. If the files have no type, or do not all share the same type, use the user’s preference stored under the key asset_file, defaulting to grid.
3. Otherwise use the user’s preference for that type id, defaulting to the type’s defaultDisplay.

Users set their preferences per type in the member dialog (DialogMemberDisplay.vue), where each type appears with its name and description, plus an entry named Other Files without a type. The defaults shown there are each type’s defaultDisplay.

In list view, CollectionDisplayListFiles.vue resolves a “global” type only when every file has the same assetTypeId, then builds the columns as name, the type’s listDisplayItems in order, and actions. Mixed lists show only the name and actions columns.

Page blocks of type files use the shared type’s name as their default title when the block has no title of its own; see Menu and pages.

Tip

Give product-related types Related to products and add the product attributes you want as list columns. Keep purely decorative types out of the default search by leaving Search by default unchecked so that searches return product files first.